Conceited
by signoRINA
Summary: She closed the door behind me and left me in complete silence. Even though she was gone, I didn’t move from my spot. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Guilt was really heavy that way. [RobRae friendship oneshot.]


Okay so here's the deal; I was starting to feel kinda annoyed by the fact that I haven't posted anything in the longest time, and I need some kind of confidence boost. So one day, I just happened to look through some ancient files of my old computer and I found one of my very first English assignments from last year.

It focuses more on the moral than the actual personalities of the characters themselves, so they may seem a little (or a lot) OC. But I think it turned out great, cuz I ended up getting an A on it (smiles).

Well, please enjoy. This might be a slow start for me, but hopefully reading some of your reviews will cure me of my illness… you know… "can't-finish-their-stories-iosis". Yes, I know, very serious.

Tis a Robin/ Raven "friendship" (note quotations) one-shot. Have fun!

**Disclaimer**: Teen Titans does NOT belong to me!

**ooooooooooooooooooo**

_Conceited _

**ooooooooooooooooooo**

It was a warm weathered Saturday afternoon in my one-story kick boxing dojo. Everybody had been practicing like crazy that day, so the unwanted smell of sweat from all the trainees quickly filled the spacious room. Garbed in my black fighting uniform with the dragon insignia over my left chest plate, I was busy teaching some rookies a thing or two about kick boxing.

I randomly punched one of them right in the gut, as a test of surprise, and sent him flying a few feet away. He landed with a hard thud on the blue padded floor and automatically placed his hands over his stomach. His lower lip quivered and had begun to cry underneath the red protective gear that covered his head. I growled at his sign of weakness, went over and picked him up by the collar.

"I'm not even trying and you're wearing protective gear! What the hell is wrong with you?!?" I yelled in his face as the others watched in fear. "If you can't fight back, you can't handle kick boxing!!"

The brown-haired kid I was holding onto began to cry harder, and I was about to say more to him when a small hand grabbed mine and forced me to release the boy.

"That's enough, Richard."

I turned my head sharply, to find a short woman with long violet hair in the same black uniform as mine leaning forward, tending to the stomach wound I gave the rookie. Her name was Rachel and she was the newest addition to our staff. She usually worked in the back with all the paper works and was really quiet so I didn't expect anything great from her. She had been working at the dojo for almost a year now and is used to how things work.

Except for how I teach my students.

I got up angrily and watched her wipe some of the boy's tears away. She began reassuring him, almost motherly; telling him everything was going to be okay. It pissed me off just watching her. She stood back up and turned to all the students.

"Alright, class is dismissed! We'll see you all next week!" She announced and all the students hurriedly grabbed their stuff and ran outside, not wanting to stay another minute longer. She then turned to me and tried to stare me down.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with you." She said icily. She didn't even bother to hear my response as I watched her go into the back room where the advanced students practiced. Blood rushed into my head as I boiled in anger.

Nobody tells me what to do.

I followed her into the room and slammed the wooden door shut behind me.

"What was that back there?! I was teaching my students not to be weak!" I yelled. She ignored how angry I was and, for some reason, she started putting her hair up in a pony tail. "I don't know how you did things back in your old place, but here, we do things MY way."

"Your way is only scaring the students. Is that what you want?" She asked calmly.

"What I want is someone who's actually worthy! I don't have time for weaklings like him!"

"They're not weaklings, they're beginners."

"I'm the master of this dojo, and if they don't appreciate-"

"Appreciate what? Getting their ass kicked?!" She snapped. "Richard, do you have any idea what you just did to that kid?

"I was rooting out all the weaklings! Students like him don't deserve to train under me!"

"Damn right they don't deserve you! They deserve better!"

"They can't find anyone better! I'm the best there is! And if you think-"

BANG!

Everything was a blur at that moment. There was a flash of light and the next thing I knew, I was being forced to look at the ceiling. I managed to move my head down slightly and found that Rachel had somehow slammed me against the wall and was pushing me against it with one arm across my stomach and the other against my neck. I tried to push her back with my hands, but realized that my arms were tangled between me and the wall.

"You need to think about how life works, Richard." She murmured softly.

"And you need to think about what you just did, _Rachel_." I swung one of my free legs behind hers, causing her to slip and fall back, but she caught herself and back flipped back into a standing position. I pushed myself off the wall quickly and ran towards her, ready to throw a punch.

She reacted fast and caught my fist with both hands and instantly pulled me towards the ground. I quickly tumbled to lessen the damage, got back up and automatically went into a fighting position. Rachel was already in one with her legs spread out and her hands in a guard. I looked up at her and our eyes met. There was fire in her dark eyes and it surprised me. This wasn't the same person that always kept track of my files.

"You have a big ego, you know that?" She stated more as a fact than a question. I blinked in confusion and realized that that was a stupid move. She was gone in an instant and had reappeared right behind me. Distracted by my own thoughts on how she did that, she spun me around and landed a punch in my face. Spit and blood flew out of my mouth and I tried to recover, but she got to me first. Forcing me down onto the floor, I tried to struggle free, but she locked me down by sitting on my stomach and held tight of my arms. Her strength was crazy. My anger went even more out of control at that point.

"Will you just calm down? I'm trying to help you!" Rachel barked, her hold on me getting tighter as I struggled harder.

"I don't need help! Let alone YOURS!" I yelled, still trying to break free of her hold. "I'm not like those other losers who keep making mistakes!"

"Everybody makes mistakes, Richard! Even you!"

"I'M PERFECT! I DON'T MAKE MISTAKES! I'M NOT A LOSER LIKE THAT KID!!"

"THEN WHY DO I HAVE YOU PINNED DOWN TO THE GROUND?!?!?!"

I instantly stopped struggling and my eyes grew slightly wider. She looked down at me angrily, expecting an answer. I looked right into her eyes and began breathing heavily.

She was right. If I was so perfect, then why couldn't I catch up with her? Why couldn't I hit her? An unfamiliar feeling swept over me and I found myself lost and speechless. I didn't know if I could get used to it, let alone handle it. She slowly let go of my arms, but didn't get off my stomach.

"With all the experience you have, you automatically set all these high expectations for everyone." She explained. "That kid you punched... he never made a mistake. YOU did."

Realization hit me harder than Rachel's punch and damn did it hurt. I turned my head, trying to avoid her gaze. But it didn't matter; I still felt her eyes boring into me.

"Everybody makes mistakes. Drop your ego and learn from them." She said before getting off of my stomach and walking out the door. She closed the door behind me and left me in complete silence. Even though she was gone, I didn't move from my spot. I couldn't even if I wanted to.

Guilt was really heavy that way.

**ooooooooooooooooooo**

Woot! My first posted story of 2007! Nice way to get back into writing, if I do say so myself.

Here's a few notes to the story that I was too lazy to say in the beginning:

--This story would've been more detailed and a bit longer… but our assignment was to make a story and to **read it out loud** XP I didn't wanna end up reading a whole novel to the class, lol

--This was made **last year**. I can assure you, I have improved a lot over the months. But I've lacked the motivation to finish stories, so hopefully, this'll give me a good kick in the butt.

Please review, I'd appreciate it. But if you're just here for the story, that's cool too. Have a good one guys!

-Rina


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